Thanks for your good thoughts. He left three generations of players (son, grandson, and great grandchildren) below him. He was the patron and could play to a professional level up until he died, running circles around the rest of his family. In total, we have six remaining pro working musicians in my extended family and I have been in the management side of the biz for three decades, with a web design and live tour production company. I am the black sheep at family parties since I can't play a lick.
"You only know if something is transparent if you know what it sounded like in the studio or at the venue. My guess is that most audiophiles don't and rely more on comformance to certain kinds of sound that they have been taught by manufacturers and critics to expect and to associate with high end stereo."
Jim: totally agree with your statement. Most audiophile systems I hear are overbuilt for the room they lie in, with poor sound dynamics caused by too many watts pushing air in disportionate levels, hampered by the box like structure of most homes. Very few consumers appear to know how to balance out a stereo system in a near field "musical" environment. I have usually seen the opposite--soundstages overwhelming the room. I know many well healed consumers addicted to the pursuit of capturing and recreating the "live" extended bass and the sizzling horns--the holy grail.
"You only know if something is transparent if you know what it sounded like in the studio or at the venue. My guess is that most audiophiles don't and rely more on comformance to certain kinds of sound that they have been taught by manufacturers and critics to expect and to associate with high end stereo."
Jim: totally agree with your statement. Most audiophile systems I hear are overbuilt for the room they lie in, with poor sound dynamics caused by too many watts pushing air in disportionate levels, hampered by the box like structure of most homes. Very few consumers appear to know how to balance out a stereo system in a near field "musical" environment. I have usually seen the opposite--soundstages overwhelming the room. I know many well healed consumers addicted to the pursuit of capturing and recreating the "live" extended bass and the sizzling horns--the holy grail.